Leading NHS hospitals through a pandemic and a merger

In the 10th episode of The Echo Dispatch, Jason speaks with Debbie Fleming shortly before her retirement from the position of chief executive of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust.

Debbie called time on a 38-year career in the National Health Service at the end of March 2022.

The former Poole Hospital chief executive was involved in the huge merger of the NHS trusts in east Dorset and more recently oversaw an annual budget of £700million.

During the episode, Debbie discusses the resposibility her senior NHS position carries, the importance of ensuring staff embrace the trust's values and how frontline workers responded to the Covid pandemic.

She also provides an insight on her words of wisdom for her successor and how the need to address the challenges in adult social care in what was her final media interview.